New York Home Textiles – NYC, NY, USA (Aug 14-19) -New York Home Textiles + Gift Week is the premier textile show in the United States. It also offers a full slate of educational programs to enhance your show experience, as well as exciting after-hours’ events to help you make the most of your time in the Big Apple.

Formland – Herning, Denmark (Aug 20-23) – Scandinavia’s largest and most international trade fair for home accessories, design and gifts. Up to 20,000 professional buyers from over 40 countries gather ideas and inspiration for the coming season twice every year.

Tendence – Frankfurt, Germany (Aug 27-31) – The most important international consumer goods’ fair in Europe for the autumn, winter and Christmas business of the same year.

September

3F – Dongguan Famous Furniture Fair – Dongguan, China (Sept 1-5) – A huge furniture fair near the heart of furniture city in Houjie. Also, there is a home accent and lighting section. This fair has a large focus on the local China furniture market.

CIFF Furniture and Home Decor – Guangzhou, China (Sept 3-6) – The biggest furniture fair in China. Also running concurrently are sections for home accents and housewares at the same grounds as the Canton Fair. This show is both for local and international guests.

Meuble Paris – Paris, France (Sept 3-7) – The Paris event devoted to furniture in all its expressions, this show will bring you to an international, high-quality offer spread out over more than 80,000m2.

Furniture China 2010 – Shanghai, China (Sept 7-10) – As one of the 3 largest furniture exhibitions in the world, Furniture China is held annually in September in Shanghai. It combines a comprehensive set of popular themes: Home Furniture, Office Furniture, Furnishings Fabrics & Lighting, Kitchen & Cabinet, Furniture Manufacturing & Supply.

Habitat Valencia – Valencia, Spain (Sept 28 – Oct 2) – The most important sales and trends platform for the Made-in-Spain home, where the sectors that make up the home products’ industry will be showcasing their latest designs. There will be an extensive program of activities both within and outside the fair while the city of Valencia is living and breathing the project every day.

October

HCMC Expo – Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam (Oct. 6 – 10) – For years, HCMC International Furniture and Handicrafts Fair has been developing tremendously, contributing substantial achievements in promoting business images as well as furniture & handicraft products to overseas’ markets. This show has the most home furnishings’ vendors in Vietnam.

The Canton Fair – Guangzhou, China (Oct 15 -19, Oct 24 – 28, Oct 31 – Nov 4) – One of the oldest, and by far the largest home furnishing fair in the world (if you include the surrounding fairs). Phase 2 (Oct 24 – 28) of the Canton Fair is when most of home furnishings suppliers show there. Phase 1 includes lighting, and Phase 3 has home textiles, carpets and rugs. Overall, there are over a million square meters of exhibition space and over 50,000 suppliers. This is probably the best factory-sourcing fair in the world.

High Point Market – High Point, NC, USA (Oct 16 – 21) – The largest home furnishings market in the World. Buyers can find all the latest furniture, home decor, and lighting from top American and global manufacturers. People looking to buy from overseas will find prices at High Point to be competitive with Asia, and many wholesale and manufacturers are willing to ship direct from overseas’ factories.

Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair – New Delhi, India (Oct 17 – 20) – The biggest furniture and home accent fair in India. Fantastic products and great values for people looking to source in India with over 1000 suppliers.

Manila F.A.M.E – Manila, Philippines (Oct 18 – 21) – Asia’s Boutique Show is the largest home furnishings fair in the Philippines and features over 200 Home Decor Manufacturers.

China Sourcing Fair: Home Products + India Sourcing Fair: Home Products – Hong Kong, China (Oct 20 – 23) – Both fairs are at one location in Hong Kong (the AsiaWold-Expo, near the airport). This is an unassociated extension of this year’s Mega Show. Expect to find thousands more suppliers. But, since the Mega show is the premium event, suppliers at this event typically are waiting to get a space at the HK Convention Center in the coming years. Shuttles and the train make it easy to travel back and forth between events.

Mega Show 2010 Part 1 – Hong Kong, China (Oct 20 – 23) – An important sourcing exhibition for the gift, housewares, premiums and toy industries in the Asia-Pacific region, taking place every October at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Since 1992 this premier trade-only exhibition has offered international buyers a one-stop showcase of over 5000 well-merchandised stands displaying products from nearly 4000 exhibitors.

Hong Kong International Lighting – Hong Kong, China (Oct 27 – 30) – Joining the HKTDC Hong Kong International Lighting Fair places you among the stars of the industry. Over 1500 exhibitors from 33 countries and regions made the fair the largest in Asia, and the second biggest of its kind in the world.

Mega Show 2010 Part 2 – Hong Kong, China (Oct 27 – 30) – Mega Show Part 2 has established itself as an essential dateline in the annual sourcing calendar every October, commencing as Phase 2 of the Canton Fair closes. A well-edited selection from nearly 1,300 Asian and international companies present high-volume products from traditional gifts and premiums, to everyday household items, as well as home décor products, home textiles, garden and outdoor goods, home improvement items, and designs for good living. Also on display will be the best of Asian pen, print, paper and stationery items.

Home & Lifestyle Fair – Taipei, Taiwan (Dec 9 – 12) – Home & Lifestyle Fair (HLS) is held at the Taipei World Trade Center, Hall 2. It is the synonym for a new, more efficient kind of business meeting and is well known as a platform for communication and innovation through its unique workshop concept. Positioned as the only annual home & decoration show which focuses on design and home lifestyle in Taiwan, HLS 2010 presents a diverse exhibit profile including the goods of living & styling, dining & gourmet, bathing & feeling, home electronics, decor & giving, gardening & outdoor, and kids & pets.

New penalties on illegally sourced woods could cause innocent buyers up to $200,000 in fines, forfeiture of goods, and possible imprisonment.

Are you compliant? Lacey Act restrictions go into effect April 2010.

The main change to the 100-year-old Lacey Act is that it is now against the law to trade or own illegally sourced animals/agricultural materials (including wood), regardless of their point of origin. And starting in April, all companies will be required to provide detailed documentation on the source and origin of the imported agricultural products.

The major issue we can see is that all importers must file a detailed declaration for incoming agricultural products specifying species and country of origin, no matter where the product is assembled. So a coffee table made from Indonesian rubberwood and American cherry veneer would need to include both species and origins.

An important note to importers: plywood, MDF, and fiberboards alone can sometimes contain over a hundred species of wood, and it seems that industry pressure has won out. Until further notice, the APHIS has published a guidance document with regard to composite, recycled, and/or reused materials. Basically, APHIS is instructing importers to indicate the type of material (e.g. MDF) under “plant scientific name”. The link above also shows an example to help fill out the document.

For now, there is no specific burden on the importer to provide documentation on the legality of the materials, but that certainly is the intent. This means that importers ARE required to ensure that their immediate purchase is legal, as well as attempt to trace the origin of the materials back to its point of harvest to ensure all steps along the way have been made in accordance with local and international law. If imports are found to be “tainted”, then the importer can be prosecuted to the full extent of the Lacey Act.

Please note that packaging materials do not need to be submitted in this documentation; but they still need to be heat-treated or fumigated with methyl bromide and include an approved international mark certifying treatment.

Those who file electronic customs forms will note that they will automatically be prompted to enter Lacey Act declaration information.

This type of documentation is becoming more necessary in countries around the world, and our industry needs to support legally harvested materials. But, it should be noted that the burden of proof falls on the US government, so it is not clear how easily they will be able to enforce these regulations.

Those who are attending the Las Vegas Market this Febuary should note that there is a and ECO conference being held on January 31, that is specifically covering the Lacey Act.

Ambiente Frankfurt (Feb 12-16)
The passage sections of Ambiente feature suppliers and manufacturers from around the world. A great show for home décor and housewares for those not planning on going all the way to Asia.

Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair (Feb 20 – 23)
The biggest furniture and home accent fair in India. Fantastic products and great values for people looking to source in India with over 1000 suppliers.

India Carpet Expo (Feb 25 – 28)
Almost 200 carpet manufacturers and exporters will attend this fair in New Delhi.

Hong Kong International Lighting -Spring (Apr 13 – 16)
-The premier fall Asian lighting fair is now twice a year. Manufacturers and suppliers are from around the world, but a majority are Chinese and HK companies. There are not nearly as many companies at the spring event and only occupies one tenth of the floor space.

Manila F.A.M.E (Apr 14 – 17)
-The largest home furnishings fair in the Philippines features over 200 Home Decor Manufacturers.

The Canton Fair (Apr 15 -19, Apr 24 – 28, May 3 – 7)
-One of the oldest, and by far the biggest home furnishing fair in the world (if you include the surrounding fairs). Phase 2 (Apr 24 – 28) of the Canton Fair is when most of home furnishings suppliers show there. Phase 1 includes lighting, and Phase 3 has home textiles, carpets and rugs. Overall, there are over a million square meters of exhibition space and over 50,000 suppliers. Please note, that while there are more furniture manufacturers now attending the canton fair, it is still not as good as the CIFF for furniture, but it is much better for home accents. Four fairs are within walking distance. To read more about these fairs Click Here.

High Point Market (Apr 17 – 22)
-The largest home furnishings market in the World. Buyers can find all the latest furniture, home decor, and lighting from top American and global manufacturers. People looking to buy from overseas will find prices at High Point to be competitive with Asia, and many wholesale and manufacturers are willing to ship direct from overseas factories.

Hong Kong Housewares (Apr 20 – 23)
-One of the best houseware fairs in the world, there are thousands of manufacturers from China, India, Asia, and other parts of the world. Products are housewares, textiles, handicrafts, and a level of Pet Supplies.

China Sourcing Fair: Home Products + India Sourcing Fair: Home Products (Apr 20 – 23)
-Both fairs are at one location in Hong Kong (the Expo Center, near the airport). This is an unassociated extension of the Hong Kong Houseware fair. Expect to find thousands more suppliers. But, since the HK Housewares is the premium event, suppliers at this event typically are waiting to get a space at the HK Convention Center in the coming years. Shuttles and the train make it easy to travel back and forth between events.

Hong Kong Gifts and Premiums (Apr 27 – 30)
-A huge event, but not as appealing for home furnishing buyers. These are often less expensive products, but some product categories of interest, include picture frames, ceramics, and clocks. Also running at the same time, is the China Sourcing Fair: Gifts & Premiums (Apr 28 – May 1), at the Asia World Expo in Hong Kong.

I recently received a very interesting report on raw material costs from a lighting factory. I’ve been aware of the major drop in material costs over the last year, but I did not anticipate that they would be climbing back so quickly!

Iron Cost in RMB

What I really find interesting is the urgency that this factory seems to have when you compare costs to the recent raw material spikes in 2007-08. We are still more than 50% below peak prices. It seemed that all suppliers are quick to raise prices, but slow to drop them. I understand their concern with recent trends not looking optimistic; but let’s hope that the speculators calm down and real business can run smoothly. (Please see the bottom of Oil Price Graph, to see how trading volume has more than tripled since 2000!)

Oil Price and Trading over time

It appears to me that this email is a marketing attempt to drive more sales over the slow summer season. This might actually prove to be a smart approach to push companies who will be buying product in the near future. Overall, I do believe the numbers they are relaying to us are accurate and all buyers should be aware.

Another concern I have is labor costs in China. Currently, we are hiring another data entry position, and it seems that we will have to pay about 2400 RMB per month to hire someone with decent English writing skills. Also, just a few months ago when we were looking for factory workers, labor wages in Guangdong had risen to around 1100-1500 RMB per month, and the total cost per month for an average factory worker now costs over 200 US Dollars. There may have been some increase in efficiency over the years, but value-oriented experts have been buying more and more outside the developed industrial regions in China, looking to other countries instead. My impressions from Vietnam, Indonesia, and India were that the total cost for an average factory worker is still below 100 US Dollars.

The material price dived greatly causing by financial crisis last year. After one year’s consolidation by stock market and oil price, which is slowly drive to the previous high point.

The above 4 charts are the price trend for our materials, actually, almost all the materials we need are going up in the last few months, However, all our quotation until now are still keep on the bottom on Feb. 2009 when all the material costs at the lowest point.

Copper Price Graphs

We quite understand what situation our clients are, while the financial crisis still not released completely, market just turn to be a little better, if increase the price, we know this will be a great hurt to all our clients. So from March 2009 to August 2009, our factory and our suppliers endures material slowly rise, we try out best to digest the price increasing by ourselves, Meantime, we always keep the lowest quotation same as this Feb., 2009’s while the material cost at the bottom, to assure all our clients can move forward in the crisis. But now we can see the future that we may have to endure more and more pressure.

From the attached 4 charts we can see, our material cost are continually going up, the increase percentage even up to 40% at lease for iron. Of course, we still have to keep Feb.’s lowest price in this August and September. But what we worried about is that the coming traditional midseason after Nov. and the coming year, if the material still continually go up 20%-30% again, I am afraid that we will really have no ways to endure any more, so we write this email to communicate with all our clients, if you have any purchasing schedule, we suggest you deal with the stock as soon as possible or prepare in advance. We will still keep the Feb.’s lowest price in this Aug. and Sep. Thanks!

Who doesn’t love FREE design information. Recently in one of the groups we belong to in LinkedIn, the CEO of Mudpie Design (a trend forecasting company) posted a great discussion. “Great resources for designers – FREE!” This inspired us to take some websites from this discussion and add some of our own favorites to help designers and furniture manufacturers looking for freebies. This first list of a 2-part series is websites. Next month we will feature the top home furnishing blogs.

Why not look at the past to predict the future! 1stDibs is an antique website, focusing on high-end antique furniture, home décor, lighting, and has now added fashion and jewelry. We’re constantly amazed by this website, and there is no harm in getting inspiration from 70 year-old designs that are surprisingly on trend for 2010! Also, we recommend subscribing to their newsletters. The writers at 1stDibs have fantastically interesting comments on different styles and how interior designers should use them today.

The name pretty much says it all. This website has some of the best looking modern furniture, lighting, and home decor, on the web. The site’s design and feel are fun, and the editors are constantly adding new modern products. Also be sure to visit their Design Blog, which is also a fantastic source for wildly creative ideas in home furnishings. They have “Eco Friendly” and “Made in the USA” product sections, and a newsletter + RSS Feeds.

Home Portfolio is the largest database for home furnishing suppliers in the USA. This site is simple to navigate, featuring all types and styles of home furnishings to help interior designers find the right furniture for their products ( customers?). It works like an online catalog and is really simple to use.

Tréndir is a Home Decorating Trends Magazine. The Tréndir Interiors website has fantastic posts; and although they call themselves “modern” interiors, they also feature some beautiful traditional home furnishings. They cover all items for the home, from bathroom hardware to outdoor living, and also cover architecture and appliances.

The popular fashion magazine has made it easy for web users to dig through their past stories and images of products. The PointClickHome.com website features images from both Elle Décor and Metropolitan Home. Users can view great designs in the “Room Finder” and select the type and style of home. Home Furnishings can be found in the “Decorate” tab, and housewares are in the “Entertain” tab. Also, the blogs on this site are good: Savvy/Chic, Design Daily, Word on Modern Style, I on Design, Stylemonger, and Deal of the Day.

This website focuses on ground-breaking design. Probably more for interior designers and architects, we think that everybody will enjoy the products, buildings, and fashion concepts these guys bring to a fun-to-use website. The most relevant area is the “Design” section, which can be found on their navigation menu. This site tends to feature the bright and exotic and is really fun.

Another modern design focused retail website is Inmod. The coolest feature here is the “Design Your Own”. You can design your own pillows and bedding! Overall, this site very is similar to 2modern, and they have a blog, newsletter, and RSS feed. If you like modern, this site is a must see…

The Trade Only Design Library is another large database of products for home décor, furniture, and housewares. This site is operated by the same company that sets up the HD Expo in Las Vegas, for hospitality and commercial furnishings. While you cannot normally view this website if you enter directly, if you click this link to Hopitality Design, I have found a secret way to access the website!

Dwell is a modern home magazine (print) but they also have a great website. It has a dedicated product section, which allows users to select what to view by product category, ranging from clocks to wall coverings.

Long one of the most prestigious architecture and home design inspiration magazines (print), Architectual Digest now has a decent website that allows free access to the design features and beautiful images that have kept this magazine on the shelves for almost 90 years! It is not as easy to navigate products on this site, as it shows the latest stories as features, but if you type in the name of the room or type of furniture into the search box, you should come up with some nice design concepts.

While I was at the HD Expo Contract Furniture Fair, in Las Vegas last May, I ran into a company who may just change how we open and close doors!

SOSS UltraLatch

The company SOSS has coined the handle the UltraLatch. They had a product on display with a door, and were actively getting buyers to test it out.

I was actually suprised by how much easier it was to use this handle than a door knob! That is why I am writing about it in our blog…

After the show, I actually went to their website to write about it, but unfortunately, there is not any details on their website.

Overall, the door opening, was super smooth, and as the photos below show, it can be opened without hands. I’m not sure how fast this will catch on, since door handles have been around so long, but is good to see that somebody is actually improving how we move around the house.

What I love is how fast Beijing can implement their policy. Two years ago, they raised taxes, before the big drop in exports and sales worldwide. Last year, they lowered some taxes to get more competitive, and now, it seems that exports will be given 15% of the 17% VAT they paid when they were purchasing the materials. This means only 2% VAT paid to the government. Factories who sell to local market and export will need to have good records to prove to the government that they exported the goods they are going to claim a VAT rebate on.

This is almost back to the original VAT free systems and rebates from years ago designed to stimulate exports while China built their economy up. It seems the local economy still cannot support the 1.4 billion people? Well, China is doing nothing different than other Asian countries (Indonesia and Vietnam), so it is a good move on their part to attract more business.

Green Day at the Hospitality Design Expo in Las Vegas was another success this year. Over one hundred and fifty people showed up to talk about a number of green categories in hospitality and green furniture. Attendees ranged from designers and consultants, to manufacturers and green buyers.

The main focus seemed to be on green hotel projects that have been completed, including some issues that have surfaced with ideas on how to solve them. Jake Kheel was the initial speaker, giving a really great overview on what they have accomplished in Punta Cana, which I found to be fascinating and inspiring.

Some drinks and chatting (otherwise know as social networking) then took place, and back to more hotel stories, called “Greening the Brand”. These were presented by some of the larger hotel chains (Hyatt and Starwood), and they reviewed what they are doing–from their normal day-to-day operations, to their green-branded hotels, how and to whom they market, and lots of images of their properties.

Well, not to be boring and detail the whole convention, my favorite part was the discussion about third party certifications, but it ended up walking around a major point. How much does it cost? A person in the audience even directly asked this question during the Q and A, but it was skirted in good political style. At the end, it was a free style show, with really cool ideas from leaders in the industry giving presentations.

I would like to compliment Tara Mastrelli, who coordinated the event and managed to keep all these creative minds on track… It was well organized, interesting, and broken up well.

Is buying dining tables on your horizon? Don’t get into negotiations without good background information. Like any product, the pricing of tables and chairs depends on many things. We took 5 simple designs and got a lot of price quotes. Our goal is to give a good overview on how much a small to medium sized buyer should expect to pay for basic manufactured dining sets.

Along the way we encountered some interesting results. Prices quoted from China Furniture Manufacturers exceeded our estimates. Various factors could have caused the price differences, but we believe that the major reason was the order size. If your company is only ordering 1 container at a time, then some manufacturers in China may not be as focused on getting buyers good prices. However, there are many smaller furniture manufacturers in Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia who are looking customers and don’t mind smaller orders.

As there are many different areas in China, we even tried to separate by region, assuming that, as in the past, different areas will have different prices. Again, this turned out to not be the case. Suppliers in Fuzhou and Zhejiang were close in pricing to the factories in Guangdong. The other explanation for the price difference is that the quality levels at the factories may be much higher. I can say that price and quality do make a big difference. A high-end factory will make a better product. This is why anybody who is seriously in furniture should visit the supplier before placing an order, or pay an expert to do it for them.

But, based on the companies we researched and the customers they work with, we’re suggesting negotiations will be needed when working with furniture manufacturers in China to get competitive market prices on simple wooden tables and chairs. Evidence that this is not just a trend but a real shift in Asian sourcing can be seen in a previous article we wrote FOB Asia. All the wood furniture is not FOB China, but actually “FOB Asia”; and from what I can tell, most is actually being manufactured in Malaysia and Vietnam.

As a side note, we have also recently heard from other people that the prices in China for higher end goods have been 15-25% higher, but they found their suppliers in China ship more reliably. So, price isn’t as important if your goods are late for your next market role out!

GoodFactories.com is a home furnishings sourcing community that proactively seeks out the best furniture manufacturers, lighting manufacturers, and all types of home décor. Many tools are provided to make finding good factories simple. The innovative sourcing map allows users to see how far a candle factory to the hotel, or ... Continue reading →